Special Issue "Viral Infections at the Human/Domestic Animal/Wildlife Interface"

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021).

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Timm Harder
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, German Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
Interests: influenza viruses; avian influenza; molecular epidemiology; diagnostic methodology; pathogenesis
Dr. Christian Grund
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, German Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
Interests: Influenza viruses; avian influenza; molecular epidemiology; diagnostic methodology; pathogenesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Phenomena of the transition of infectious agents into pathogens by switching host species have been described since ancient times. Fundamental crises in human populations and societies have been triggered or aggravated by infectious diseases of animal origin. Ancient and medieval plague epidemics, the HIV pandemic during the second half of the 20th century and the most recent coronavirus pandemic are mentioned here, to cite a few examples. It is conceivable that the modern transformation of crop and livestock farming in conjunction with the encroachment of the terrestrial and aquatic habitats of wild animals, the upsurge in the transcontinental mobility of the global human population, and impacts on the global climate will unhinge the balance of viral–host ecology and influence the incursion and spread of established and emerging infectious agents. Adaptive properties predestine viruses to react to new evolutionary challenges including the crossing of species barriers. Viral factors that govern incursion, efficient replication and transmission act on various cellular, individual and host population levels.

This Special Issue seeks all types of manuscripts (e.g., reviews, research articles and short communications) featuring experimental work as well as reviewing published data on historic and current virus transitions at the interfaces of wild animal populations, livestock and man. A focus should be on the examination of factors that influence the flow of viruses across those interfaces and how modern methodologies are widening our understanding of such processes. New detection technologies, surveillance methods and holistic habitat studies are expected to broaden our view on and deepen our understanding of viral ecology in host reservoirs. This will foster the development of prospective and preventive tools that aid in the protection of immunologically naive populations of wild and domestic animals as well as of man against incursions of novel infectious pathogens.

Prof. Dr. Timm Harder
Dr. Christian Grund
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • emerging viruses
  • population interfaces
  • interspecies transmission of viral pathogens
  • host reservoir ecology
  • agro-economics reflecting virus ecology and evolution

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
A Semiquantitative Scoring System for Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Assessment of Lesions and Tissue Tropism in Avian Influenza
Viruses 2021, 13(5), 868; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13050868 - 09 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 781
Abstract
The main findings of the post-mortem examination of poultry infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) include necrotizing inflammation and viral antigen in multiple organs. The lesion profile displays marked variability, depending on viral subtype, strain, and host species. Therefore, in this [...] Read more.
The main findings of the post-mortem examination of poultry infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) include necrotizing inflammation and viral antigen in multiple organs. The lesion profile displays marked variability, depending on viral subtype, strain, and host species. Therefore, in this study, a semiquantitative scoring system was developed to compare histopathological findings across a wide range of study conditions. Briefly, the severity of necrotizing lesions in brain, heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, and/or lymphocytic depletion in the spleen is scored on an ordinal four-step scale (0 = unchanged, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe), and the distribution of the viral antigen in parenchymal and endothelial cells is evaluated on a four-step scale (0 = none, 1 = focal, 2 = multifocal, 3 = diffuse). These scores are used for a meta-analysis of experimental infections with H7N7 and H5N8 (clade 2.3.4.4b) HPAIV in chickens, turkeys, and ducks. The meta-analysis highlights the rather unique endotheliotropism of these HPAIV in chickens and a more severe necrotizing encephalitis in H7N7-HPAIV-infected turkeys. In conclusion, the proposed scoring system can be used to condensate HPAIV-typical pathohistological findings into semiquantitative data, thus enabling systematic phenotyping of virus strains and their tissue tropism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viral Infections at the Human/Domestic Animal/Wildlife Interface)
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